Page 12 of My Orc in Uniform

Unable to help myself, and my attention hopelessly caught by Simbel, I blurted a repeat of his joke from Monday: “That was my nickname in college.”

He swung an incredulous gaze my way, then burst into laughter again. “Some kinda freak?” he asked, shaking his head between chuckles. “I guess that’s better thanGoing to eat them.”

“Yeah.” I offered a small smile. “That would be an awkward nickname.”

“Truth. It was bad enough going through the academy with a name like Simbel Smith.” He settled back into his resting pose, his eyes following the ball around the court, although since he was still speaking to me, I wasn’t sure if he was paying full attention. “TheSmithpart is a government formality that I was able to finally talk them into dropping.”

“So…” I’ll admit that I was just bursting with questions, and now I had a chance to ask them. “Simbel is a first and last name? Like Madonna or Cher?

He shrugged. “Our clan was never more than a few hundred males, and far fewer females. We rarely traveled any distance, so we only needed one name. When we came through the veil and approached your media, we knew it meant we couldn’t go home, and thus it was time for us to choose new names anyhow. The scientists gave us these names.”

I probably shouldn’t have done it, but I was acting on instinct. I reached out and placed my fingertips on his corded forearm. “I’m sorry,” I murmured, thinking only to comfort him, the way I might comfort Joleen or Patrick.

Yeah, Rissa, tell yourself that.

He’d stiffened, and now his gaze was locked straight ahead. I saw a muscle in his jaw jump. Uh-oh, had I offended him by touching him? I slowly pulled my hand away from his warm green skin.

The thick column of his throat bobbed as he swallowed, then he smiled. It was obviously forced. “Thanks.” He shook himself, then focused on the game once more. Or maybe he was only pretending to focus on it. “The scientists thought Sakkara’s name sounded like one of your ancient Egyptian archaeological sites, so they gave us similar names. I’m actually Abu Simbel, after the twin temples, and my twin brother is Memnon, after the paired colossi.”

That was interesting enough to distract me from the awkward-touching incident. “What were your names before?”

And so we chatted through the last three quarters of the game, me learning all about the orcs’ world and Simbel’s experiences in the last decade in New York. He asked me a lot about Eastshore, but didn’t touch too much on my personal life, which I appreciated. I mean, it’s not like my failed relationship with Patrick’s dad was a secret, but it was so long ago, it didn’t seem relevant. And it was easier to talk about the town we both loved, and the people we both knew.

It helped that I didn’t try to touch him again. And that he laughed at all my jokes, even the weak ones. I kinda loved his smile, honestly. I loved how easygoing he was, and I loved how he kept smiling after he was done laughing.

Making him laugh made me feel…I dunno,accomplished? Because he was making me laugh every other minute.

Before I knew it, the whistle was blowing, and Simbel straightened. “Ninety-nine to 103! That was a hell of a game!”

“It was,” I admitted, although I’d seen little of it. “Go Warthogs!”

“Yeah.” He shot me a smirk. “Cream those beavers.”

Oh my God, that was horrible. It was beyond what H.R. should deal with. But that didn’t stop a surprised bark of laughter to burst from my lips. Without thinking, I leaned sideways and dug my shoulder into his bicep. “Sense of humor of a teenage boy. Ask me how I know.”

“Hey, you laughed,” he pointed out, while chuckling himself. And Iwasstill snickering as I tipped my head back to watch him stand.

Around us, spectators were packing up. The teams were doing their post-game handshake, the cheerleaders were wrapping up their moves, and I really needed to meet Patrick by the car.

But I couldn’t stop staring up at Simbel.

Still grinning, he offered me his hand, and I took it, allowing him to lift me to my feet. In that moment, I felt light as a feather, as if he could lift me straight up to the sky…and I’d let him.

We stood like that for a moment, my hand in his, my head tipped back, our smiles slowly fading.

Finally, he said in a low voice, “I had fun tonight.”

“You know what?” I replied without thinking it through. “I did too. I really did.” How long had it been since I’d hadfun? Being with Simbel tonight had been anything but boring.

He glanced down at our hands, and I felt his thumb rubbing against my knuckle. I couldn’t seem to look away from his dark gaze. His eyes, which I thought had always been black, each had a speck of green deep in the center.

Warmth crept up my arm, and suddenly I felt a million miles high in these bleachers. I tightened my hold on his fingers, and he closed his other hand around mine, as if he were anchoring me in place.

“Would you like…” He cleared his throat and tried again. “I know you said you didn’t want to have dinner with me, but do you think we could hang out again? Like, just going for a walk after work or something?”

“I thought you were going to work out with Kelly?”

I dunno why I blurted it. I shouldn’t have. Probably I only did it because I panicked. After all, the hottie in uniform I’d been lusting after for ages justasked me outagain!

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